July 19, 2017

The 14 Most Absurd Premises in Anime

Anyone who watches anime knows that they can be rather absurd at times. I suppose that is to be expected from the people who invented the full body umbrella.

Take, for instance, Bananya, the anime about a cat who lives in a banana. Enough said.

A somewhat similar anime is Donyatsu, which follows the adventures of a talking cat-doughnut creature living in an abandoned, post-apocalyptic Shinjuku.

Or take Assassination Classroom, he plot is that a class of junior high school students have one year to kill their superpowered octopoid teacher (who had just destroyed the moon) before he destroys the earth. Furthermore, he is such a good teacher that it is a shame to kill him.

As the name suggests, the Devil is a Part-timer shows us what happens when the hero of the story, the devil, gets a part-time job at a fast-food restaurant. Along the way, he has to deal with opponents like rival fast food joints, fellow demons, his landlord, and a wicked angel out to get him.

Wizard Barristers, also as the name suggests, depicts the adventures of a magical, purple-haired Canadian immigrant to Japan who has a perverted talking frog as a familiar and works as a barrister for wizards.

Blue Exorcist is about the son of Satan ... who wants to be an exorcist.

Saint Young Men features Jesus and Buddha taking a holiday by renting an apartment in Tokyo.

Sailor Moon is about teenage girls who wear sailor uniforms but never go sailing. Oh, wait, that is all the teenage girls in Japan.

In parody of this absurd premise, Kill la Kill shows what happens when clothes try to take over the world. If there was ever a more noble and virtuous piece of clothing than Senketsu, I have not heard of it.

Prison School shows what really happens when an all girls school opens its doors to boys for the first time: they get thrown into a prison on the school grounds.

Future Diary features a death game, using magic phone diaries, set up by God to find a replacement for Him.

The title of 'Shimoneta: A Boring World Where the Concept of Dirty Jokes Doesn't Exist' speaks for itself.

The Dragon Dentist is another anime whose name speaks for itself.

In Akikan!, "You drink a can of soft drink and it turns into a girl with magic powers who for some reason wants to murder all the other can girls. Oh, but only take a sip, because if you drink the lot, they die."

Can you think of any more premises that belong on this list?

Why do you think it is that anime reach such heights of absurdity?

Originally posted at Anime for the People. Some credit for this list must go to those who took part in that discussion.